[ad_1]
St. Gallen Natallia Hersche, arrested at a demonstration in Minsk, remains in prison. National Councilor Barbara Gysi becomes her godmother in the human rights organization Libereco.
On September 19, Natallia Hersche (center) was arrested during a demonstration in Minsk.
A month ago, Natallia Hersche from St. Gallen was arrested in Minsk. The dual Swiss-Belarusian citizen participated in several demonstrations against the Lukashenko regime in mid-September. Her downfall was the large women’s demonstration in which she was taken into custody with thousands of others. His partner in eastern Switzerland, Robert Stäheli, and Natallia Hersche’s brother, who lives in Belarus, have not had any direct contact with the prisoners since.
Now in solitary confinement
Unlike 14,000 other detainees, who were often released after two weeks, the girl from St. Gallen remains in prison. Pretrial detention was extended by two months. According to her friend from St. Gallen, she has since been transferred to another prison and is in solitary confinement there. According to information from the human rights organization “spring96”, Hersche is now one of 94 political prisoners in Belarus serving a longer sentence.
She is accused of ripping off a policeman’s ski mask during the demonstration during detention. According to “spring96”, activists and lawyers who supported opposition politicians Tichanovskaja and Kolesnikova are in prison with St. Gallen. Conditions in the prisons are said to be dire.
EDA with difficulties
The Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has stated that it is very difficult to get in contact with the detainee because Hersche has dual citizenship and the local authorities treated the local authorities like a Belarusian. Apparently nothing has changed in that. “Our embassy in Minsk is in contact with the responsible local authorities and supports our fellow citizens in the framework of consular protection,” says Pierre-Alain Eltschinger of the FDFA. For privacy and data protection reasons, he was unable to provide further information.
The human rights organization Libereco has become active and its volunteer members take care of political prisoners in Switzerland and Germany. Libereco learned of Hersche’s existence through CH Media newspaper reports. “We waited to see if they would release her on October 4 after the end of her pre-trial detention, like thousands more. When that was not the case, we took action, ”says Lars Bünger of Libereco in Zurich.
One of the activities of the human rights organization is to find sponsors among politicians for the prisoners in Belarus. St. Gallen National Councilor Barbara Gysi has assumed her patronage. She says:
«The right to demonstrate is a fundamental right. I strongly condemn the people arrested. “
He generally supported efforts to free political prisoners. “As a resident of St. Gallen, I naturally guarantee that Natallia Hersche will be released. Showing my solidarity and using my possibilities is clear to me. ”
Generate pressure on the Belarusian authorities
The sponsorships should allow pressure to be put on the Belarusian authorities, says Bünger. And also to encourage the Swiss authorities to defend the detainees. “In the meantime, we have received another fifty association commitments from parliamentarians from various democratic countries in Europe for other prisoners,” says Bünger. In Switzerland, in addition to Gisy, national councilors Claudia Friedl, Nik Gugger, Lisa Mazzone, Fabian Molina, Marianne Streiff-Feller, Lilian Studer and Céline Vara have agreed to sponsor.
Chancellor Cassis should get involved
“In addition to the current call for the release of Natallia Hersche, we are in the process of collecting signatures for an open letter that we will send to the relevant authorities,” says Gysi. The case will be made public with various activities so that Switzerland can adequately defend its citizens, Bünger says.
Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis had already met personally with Lukashenko this year, so Libereco hopes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs will personally take care of the St. Federal Councilor Cassis, “says Gysi. Switzerland had previously campaigned for the release of Swiss citizens. “It goes without saying that Federal Councilor Cassis now uses his contacts,” says St. Gallen SP National Councilor.
Meanwhile, Libereco will hold a short vigil for Natallia Hersche on Tuesday at 5:30 pm on the station bridge in Zurich. Exactly on the 51st birthday of the St. Gallen mother of two.
